December 2005

December 13
new student word list
Ok, I'm starting a new list of made-up student words. Feel free to add to this list.

divertingess - n, interesting, or the amount to which something diverts you from boredom.

interestingness - n, major, or area of specialization
9:57 PM

December 12
irrelevant rambling
So, I've decided to compile a list of commonly used crossword answers because it seems that now that I've been doing crosswords for about two years now, I know all the answers. There must be a pool of like a couple hundred words that they use after they've made up a few pop culture and sports references and added in a few celebrities they consider obscure enough to be included in a crossword puzzle. I hope I'm never obscure enough to be in a crossword. Poor, poor Ani DiFranco. I just think the newspaper crossword writers of the world need to start being a little more creative. Anyway, so here's a list of words that I see ALL the time in crossword puzzles. Feel free to add some of your own if you feel inclined to participate in this pointless discussion I've started.

OLEO
APSE
ETNA
ORB
EMIR
OBI
ABS
AIM
OPUS
GOAD
ETON
ARIA
URAL
RANI
2:47 AM

December 02
Yet another update
For those following the news, I was not affected by the November 27, 2005, 5.7 earthquake in Ruichang, China. No need to worry. Also no need to worry about the UN's recent comments about torture in China, since I'm not a political dissident. For more on that story, check it out at the Globe and Mail.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051202.w2torture1202/BNStory/International/
10:00 PM

BBQ
Ever had a BBQ in November? Some of our student friends invited us to have a BBQ with them two weekends ago by Taihu lake. It was supposed to be an American style BBQ, but it eneded up just being various pieces of meat on bamboo sticks cooked over this cool portable bbq thing with some Chinese style spices thrown on. However, they did make some good salads and it was quite delicious. It was a little cool, but very nice, until this policeman showed up and told us that we weren't allowed to have fires in that area. So we offered him some bbq and took lots of pictures with him so soften him up and so he let us finish up what we had already started cooking. Anyway, here are some pictures of that. These were taken by Maria, another foreign teacher at web. There are some more pictures around somewhere, so if I find them, I'll put all the pictures in an album. Anyway, you can click on them to enlarge.

12:10 AM